Roadmap for $5tn economy ready, invest in India, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told his global audience at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum that India`s roadmap for achieving its target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024 was ready, and appealed to global businesses to invest in the country.

Delivering the keynote address at the third session of the FII, Modi said that investments by Saudi companies in India is a welcome trend which is set to deepen in the months to come.

He said that by 2024, India aims to invest $100 billion in refining and in setting up pipelines and gas terminals. "I am happy that Saudi Aramco has decided to invest in the West Coast Refinery Project, which will be the largest refinery of Asia," he said.

Modi, who thanked the Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, said that in five years, his government has taken major measures to liberalise investment in the country.

"I thank the King and my brother, the Crown Prince, for the invite to address this forum," said Modi, who is on a day`s visit to Riyadh on the invite of the Saudi King.

Describing Saudi Arabia as an energy centre, the Prime Minister said the FII forum aims not just to boost investment in Saudi Arabia but also in the world, and is an important platform to understand emerging trends and find pathways.

He said the warmth in India-Saudi ties has a feeling of kinship and also described Saudi Arabia as a close neighbour and brother country of India.

He spoke of the one nation, one grid, one power, one mobility card, and one optical fibre network, and said this was part of the move to integrate India`s infrastructure sector.

"We are building homes for every Indian, and bringing water and electricity to each home," he said, adding that they have added speed to the infrastructure building in view of the 75th anniversary of India`s Independence in 2022.

He said India`s infrastructure growth will be in double digits, but there will be no capacity saturation, and assured that investors will get returns.

"Under Skill India initiative, in the coming three-four years, 400 million people will be trained under different skills. This will provide assured skilled manpower to companies investing in India," he said.

"Today India has become the world`s third largest start-up ecosystem. Even in tier two and three cities of India startups have come up. I invite global investors to benefit from our start-up ecosystem," Modi added.